US Budget: "Obama saves the day" - Late U.S. budget deal avoids costly shutdown - by Andy Sullivan and Jeff Mason

U.S. President Barack Obama and congressional leaders struck a last-minute budget deal on Friday to narrowly avert a government shutdown that would have hit the economy and idled hundreds of thousands of workers.


With a little over an hour to spare before a midnight deadline, Obama's Democrats and opposition Republicans agreed to a bitterly fought compromise plan that will cut about $38 billion in spending for the rest of the fiscal year.


Congress then quickly approved a stopgap funding measure to keep the federal government running into next week until the budget agreement can be formally approved.

For more: Late U.S. budget deal avoids costly shutdown | Reuters